1/2 of a Century!

How to do a surprise party? With daughters who let their Mom have fun, and some good friends helping the girls!

Reggie's b'day is September 19 -- International Talk Like a Pirate Day. So that was how the pirate theme got planned. But the weekend was September 16 -- and it worked out that we were on Mt. Hood from Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon. We were late getting Reggie home (but I told the girls I couldn't guarantee an exact time), so some of the guests couldn't stay, but it worked out that the car got way-layed coming up the driveway, so Reg could be blindfolded, dressed up as Captain Pirate, and brought out behind the shop where the party was waiting...

The party was going on! Lots of pics of fun friends and family:

Happy 50th B'day, Reggie!

Timberline 1/2 Marathon weekend!

And what a fun weekend it was!

Friday afternoon, Reg and I met up with Mike and Karen at the Rose Garden in Portland. Many, many beautiful roses still blooming. Next, we dodged the Friday afternoon traffic and drove up to Corbett, to take the Old Columbia Highway through the Columbia Gorge, stopping at many of the waterfalls.

We stopped at Vista House, with beautiful marble stonework, even the stairs leading to the restrooms...

Bridalveil Falls:

Multnomah Falls -- probably the Gorge's most famous:

Continuing up the river for some really good pizza at Pietros in Hood River, then around the back side of Mt. Hood, getting to the Mt. Hood Inn hotel at Governent Camp, base camp for the weekend.

We slept well, met for the hotel breakfast in the morning, then hit the road to explore the backroads on the way to Silverton. Starting with stopping at Timothy Lake, where the next morning's run would be. We found Pine Point, near the dam -- turns out the race started just on the other side of the dam.

On down the forest roads, we caught just a glimpse of Mt. Jefferson--the sky was mostly gray all weekend though. We stopped at the river at the Breitenbush campsite, then on to Detroit Lake ranger station, then stopped at Little Niagara. That's an amazing section of river whitewater and history!

Then on to Silver Falls State Park. First we hiked the loop at the South Falls end, then drove to the north end of the park to catch North Falls and Upper North Falls. Upper North is a Maas favorite--it's where Reggie asked me to marry him!

South Falls, front view and rear view:

Looking over to North Falls from the Winter Falls trailhead:

North Falls -- front view, rear view, and Team Karen inside!

And the Maas favorite, Upper North Falls:

After Silver Falls, we needed to get up to Portland to meet our friends at the Spaghetti Factory. Things were going fine, till we got close to Mt. Angel. Oops, Oktoberfest weekend, and the traffic was crawling. We did a U-turn, headed back to Silverton, took a different road to Brooks and out to the freeway. Only ended up about 15 minutes off the time to get to Portland.

Wonderful meal, and wonderful friends. It was so good to see Michael and Phyllis and Deborah and Wendy! Lots of laughing and catching up on life, and making plans for meeting at Timothy Lake. Too soon, we were off and headed up the mountain for the race the next morning.

I did my usual Clif bar for breakfast, eating in the room, and we all met in the lobby to get ready to go. Wendy had two friends join us from Eugene, and she drove their car, for they were unfamiliar with the roads. Deborah rode with Team Karen and cheerleaders, Mike and Reggie, and we had a fun trip to the lake. We crossed the dam and Mike parked, and we saw Phyllis looking for us, going toward the start area. Very good! She went back and got Michael, we used the little gray houses, and had photos at the lake before the start.

Gray skies, and it had been misting at the hotel, but was dry at Timothy Lake. It was a slow start, for they had runners starting every 5 seconds. So it took about 15 minutes to go 20 feet or so to the start line! :) But really, that was a smooth way to do it, for the race was mostly single track trail around the lake.

We went with Captain Wendy leading us on, then Sunny (Karen D) letting us know about upcoming roots and rocks, then Deborah was reporting on the wildlife, then I was the team photographer. :) We stopped many times for photo ops:

Our cheerleading team found us out there, too:

We never did see Mt. Hood, but it was still so fun out there!!!

At the last water break was the course photographer. Sunny did a quick bathroom break, then we got pics of all 4 of us. We moved on, with less than 2 miles to the finish. It seemed to go by really fast -- soon we were crossing the dam. Reggie and Michael and their cameras were running with us to the finish.

We went first past the food and drinks, to the shirts and medals. Great post-race snacks, then back to the hotel, where all 4 of us girls showered. Wendy and Deborah headed back to Eugene.

Then Team Karen and our men went to our house, where Reggie was surprised with a b'day party. That'll be another blog entry...